I made the core of my SaaS free forever. Here's how I plan to make money anyway.

I just shipped ColorSense, a tool that pulls the dominant HEX colors out of any image. Upload a photo, get five usable colors, copy them. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing's sent to a server — and there's no signup.

The "smart" move would've been to gate it: free for three extractions, then sign up, then pay. That's how most color tools nudge you. I went the other way and made the core free and unlimited, no account at all.

The bet: the free, no-signup core is the marketing. It's the one thing Coolors and Adobe Color won't do, so it's my way in on long-tail search and word of mouth. I monetize on the edges instead — a one-time Pro pass, advanced brand-kit exports, and affiliate links to tools designers already use.

I don't know yet if it works. The risk is obvious: a great free tool that never converts. But gating the core felt like trading my only real differentiator for a few early dollars, and I'd rather find out if free-as-acquisition can carry a solo project.

If you've run a free-core product: what actually moved people to pay — hitting a limit, or wanting a specific power feature? That's the part I'm least sure about.

Tool's at colorsense.online if you want to poke at it.